The U.S.-Cuban Circus

An Unending Carousel

Photo montage courtesy of: John Minchillo/Associated Press.

      Monday night {January 4, 2016}, even though I am an unabashed newshound, I turned off TV News because, as I often do, I tired of a saturation of Talking Head pundits incessantly Talking About a fresh uproar about presidential candidate Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly, the Anchor/Princess for Fox News. The latest fracas erupted when Kelly made this attention-getting, ratings-boosting comment: "Before Donald Trump launched his presidential bid, he tried to woo me. But I can't be wooed. I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him." WOW! That's a headline-grabbing statement, even in this money-crazed and media-distorted presidential election year of 2016!! First off, both Trump and Kelly are long-married with children. Secondly, Kelly's laughable statement that she doesn't "hate him" is ridiculous. She hates Donald Trump because, amazingly, she considers him a threat to win the Republican presidential nomination over her beloved obvious choice Marco Rubio. The high-profile Kelly anchored the Republican debate carried by Fox News. Kelly began that debate with a famous GOT-YOU question fired unceremoniously at Donald Trump. She asked, with a sly grin: "You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. You once told a contestant on 'Celebrity Apprentice' it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like a temperment of a man we should elect President?" The opening question, of course, was designed to undermine Trump's amazing position as front-runner in the Republican primary, ahead of Kelly's beloved Marco Rubio. For months now, Kelly's question and Trump's bloody reaction have made headlines, exacerbated this week by Kelly's amazing assertion that Trump once tried to...uh, uh..."woo" her.

         Meanwhile, while Megyn Kelly tries desperately to derail Donald Trump on behalf of Marco Rubio, Rubio himself has carte blanche to appear nightly on Megyn Kelly's highly rated prime-time "news" program on Fox "News." Now that's important, for this very specific reason: Fox News is by far the highest rated cable news operation in the United States...even though any unbiased analyst would consider it nothing more and nothing less than a right-wing propaganda machine that has long-since turned off even many lifelong conservative Republicans like me.

       Having Megyn Kelly and the other Fox News anchors promoting him nightly is a huge advantage, and perhaps a pivotal one, for Marco Rubio. Also, most CNN, MSNBC, Aljazeera America, NBC, CBS, and ABC network anchors favor Rubio. Also, so do most conservative, right-wing, and Jewish billionaires as well as the Tea Party. So did the Bush dynasty, at least until Rubio side-swiped and zoomed past his mentor, Jeb Bush, in his quest for the White House, a quest that began the very first day Rubio set foot in the Senate. Now, in the first week of January in the decisive year of 2016, Rubio has only to catch Donald Trump and Ted Cruz to lock up the Republican presidential sweepstakes. With influential "journalists" such as Megyn Kelly fervently promoting him, Rubio is on his way.

         This Vanity Fair cover illustrates just how influential Megyn Kelly and Fox News really are. Enough to hand the Republican nomination to Marco Rubio? Probably.

         On a given night in America, Fox News has over 3 million viewers in prime-time, far more than the other cable news networks combined. The 3 million loyal Fox News viewers are almost exclusively Republicans. So, yes, Fox can tilt the Republican presidential sweepstakes to Marco Rubio even with his many flaws and a track-record in the U. S. Senate that is nil, expect for blocking the highly qualified Roberta Jacobson's nomination as Ambassador to Mexico because of her alleged "sin" in brilliantly representing the U. S. in diplomatic negotiations with Cuba, one of many obstinate stances by Rubio that even most Cuban-Americans in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood oppose. Yet, a lot of billionaire dollars and Fox News can put Rubio in the White House as of January, 2017, thanks to the three-ring circus known as U. S. politics. UH, DID MEGAN KELLY ACTUALLY ACCUSE DONALD TRUMP OF TRYING TO "WOO" HER? The answer, I'm sorry to say, is...yes, she did! WOW!!

Meanwhile, great U.S.-Cuban news:

     Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe this week has made historic connections on his three-day trip to Cuba!! On Day #2 of his visit yesterday -- Jan. 4th-2016 -- McAuliffe signed an historic agreement for the Virginia Port Authority to work with its Cuban counterpoint, the refurbished Port of Mariel. McAuliffe's state airplane had special permission to land at Havana's Jose Marti Airport Sunday. His 30-person delegation includes other top Virginia officials as well as 20 key Virginia business executives. McAuliffe hopes Virginia can sharply increase its commerce with Cuba and that Virginia's huge port will take over as the main port doing business with Cuba. He chastised the head of Smithfield Foods for currently shipping pork to Florida to transport it to Cuba, saying such an arrangement was "stupid." The enthused Governor told newsmen, "I just think Cuba is a huge potential for us for many years to come. We're coming here to plant the American flag!" He also arranged for Virginia Commonwealth University, the huge public university in Richmond, to sign an historic agreement with the University of Havana to exchange collaborative programs and research.

          Terry McAuliffe has only been Virginia's Governor since 2014. But on the national stage...he is a former Chairman of the National Democratic Party...back in 2009 he went to Cuba to lobby for Virginia to sell apples and wine to Cuba. Yesterday back in Cuba as Virginia's Governor, McAuliffe met with two top economic Ministers for Cuba -- Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz and Rodrigo Malmierca -- and told them, "I've had long-standing opposition to the U. S. embargo targeting Cuba." He also reminded them of his "high-level Washington connections." He toured Havana yesterday, expecially the Havana Hilton and bars once frequented by famed Americans including Earnest Hemingway. On the street, a Cuban named Julio Alvarez asked McAuliffe, "Do you want to see my car?" It was a pink-and-white 1956 Chevy. McAuliffe took a look and said, "No, I want to drive it!" And so he did, all around Havana! His tour guide was Ayleen Robainas. At one stop she pointed out to the Governor a 1906 building that Cuba was renovating to make it a "nice hotel." McAuliffe wondered if Cuba could make use of Virginia material in the renovation process. Ayleen replied, "No, we will do it on our own." It was a gentle reminder that, as Cuba reshapes its economy, it has, at the moment at least, more trust in dealing with countries more friendly than the United States. But...Governor McAuliffe and the other 29 important Virginians traveling with him are trying to change that.

Terry McAuliffe.

Virginia's dynamic, Cuba-friendly Governor!!

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Cuba Captures America!!!

Don't Laugh! It's Possible!

       Naples, Florida is a luscious and gorgeous city of 21,000 well-to-do and highly intelligent souls. They and millions of tourists consider it the Garden Spot of America.

         Naples is located southeast of Tampa and due northwest of Miami on Florida's southwest coast. You can also notice that it is due northeast of Havana, Cuba.

      If you visit Naples you might want to stay at the splendid Ritz Carlton Hotel. Both the beach and one of America's very best golf courses are just a few yards away.

        Naples also has a splendid newspaper -- The Naples Daily News. All  citizens of Naples, of course, are familiar with America's, and especially Florida's, close but testy relationship with Cuba, especially since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 chased the Batistiano dictators to Florida -- drastically altering Cuba, Florida, and America. Some citizens of Naples are concerned that Cuba might be about to capture the United States. Now if that sounds far-fetched, it actually isn't. Cuba has a key official, Josefina Vidal, who...by necessity...probably knows more about the U. S. government than any person on the planet. She is, in fact, probably the prime reason the U. S., on behalf of a vicious segment of America's rich and powerful Cuban-American community, has not re-captured Cuba. And as Ms. Vidal assesses the 2016 Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns, she recently made this succinct and not-so-far-fetched comment: "The Batistianos seem to have a new plan to re-capture Cuba. Their plan is to capture the U. S. first and THEN re-capture Cuba." Ms. Vidal, and some astute citizens of Naples, have noticed that two Cuban-Americans -- Marco Rubio of Miami and Ted Cruz of Texas -- are cruising to the Republican nomination to be President of the United States. They also note that the new President -- who will take office on January 20th-2017 -- will also be America's Commander-in-Chief. Therefore, Ms. Vidal -- and some astute citizens of Naples -- anticipate something akin to the Bay of Pigs on or shortly after January 20, 2017. Now is this sounding less far-fetched? It should. This week, I believe the most interesting item in the Naples Daily News was a letter-styled article entitled "Isolating Cuba." It was penned by David Goldstein. Like Vidal in Havana, Goldstein in Naples worries about either Rubio or Cruz becoming the next Commander-in-Chief. Goldstein wrote these exact words in the Naples Daily News:
                       "It's too bad that both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are more focused on running for President than they are on their day jobs as U. S. Senators.
                   Even though both of them came from families that benefited from the special treatment given Cuban refugees, they both continue to oppose normalizing relations between Cuba and the U. S.
                          Until President Obama acted to reverse 50 years of a failed policy, the U. S. stood alone in its effort to isolate Cuba. Although Sen. Rubio refused to leave the campaign trail to vote on the trillion-plus dollar budget bill (which he opposed), he did find time to put a 'hold' on the nomination of Roberta S. Jacobson as ambassador to Mexico. Ms. Jacobson is a State Department veteran who is fluent in Spanish, and is exactly the kind of person we need to advance U. S. interests in Mexico and Central America. The Mexican government expressed support as did the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
                            Unfortunately, because Ms. Jacobson, while serving as an Assistant Secretary of State, helped negotiate the thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba Sen. Rubio placed a 'hold' on her candidacy, thereby preventing her from receiving what should have been a pro forma vote of approval.
                           Although 'holds' are not in the Constitution, they are in the Senate's rules and, as in this instance, are often used to thwart the will of both the Senate and the President."
           The above article this week from the Naples Daily News is an exact word-for-word quotation. I use it for this reason: It points out that the mainstream U. S. media, unlike excellent small newspapers like the one in Naples, does not have the competence, patriotism, or courage to challenge even the most meretricious, hedonistic, avaricious, and indecent acts of anti-Americanism committed by Cuban-American extremists even in defiance of most Cuban-Americans who, for sure, oppose such extremism. From Florida, Texas, and New Jersey, only hard-line Cuban-American extremists make it to the U. S. Congress, where they can easily use nuances or loopholes to craft legal laws that harm everyone but them and their easily obtained sycophants. Take, for example, the point in the Naples Daily News about Rubio's "hold" to block the nomination of Roberta Jacobson as Ambassador to Mexico, which is harming America and Mexico. However, Rubio does not have to worry that it will cost him a single donation or a single vote on his White House bid.

      Undeniably, Roberta Jacobson is the most qualified American to be Ambassador to Mexico. But in diplomatic sessions with Cuba's Josefina Vidal in 2015, Ms. Jacobson brilliantly represented the United States in trying desperately to correct a failed and cruel U. S. policy that has been allowed to fester for decades thanks to Cuban-American extremism since 1959. Because of that, Marco Rubio is using a quirk in the U. S. Senate's playbook to deny her nomination. Of course, the mainstream U. S. media does not have the guts to call him on it, but the Naples Daily News did.

        Hiding behind the skirts of the U. S. government since 1959, Cuban-American extremists have harmed a lot of decent people -- Americans like Roberta Jacobson, Cuban-Americans like Emilio Milian, etc. Jacobson suffers because she represented the U. S. in diplomatic discussions with Cuba. Milian suffered because he opposed fellow Cuban-Americans committing terrorist acts against innocent Cubans. At one time, Emilio considered leaving his job as a broadcast journalist to run for office in Miami, but he realized that moderate Cuban-Americans couldn't get elected, not even in the greatest democracy in the history of the world. Not since 1959, anyway.

         The volatile Republican race for the White House in 2016 will evolve into a battle between two first-term Cuban-American U. S. Senators -- Ted Cruz from Texas and Marco Rubio from Miami. Their only hurdle is the easily hurdled non-politician Donald Trump. Then their only hurdle will be Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who will be gradually worn down by her sex, her age, her Wall Street ties, her politics-as-usual mantle, and her dynastic Clinton name. That's why Cuba's prime defender, Josefina Vidal, expects Rubio to the next Commander-in-Chief of the world's strongest military. {Note: Vidal, of necessity, knows more about the U. S. presidential race than all the television pundits combined}. Vidal realizes that both Cruz and Rubio will be awash with money in a political arena that now allows for unlimited donations from billionaires. Conservative and right-wing billionaires love both Cruz and Rubio. Religious billionaires love Cruz; Jewish billionaires love Rubio. Either man has more than enough money to purchase the White House. Vidal believes that Rubio will triumph because Cruz is too radical for most traditional Republicans. For a lot of past months and future months pundits have and will make a lot of money forecasting 2016's presidential sweepstakes, no matter how wrong they might be. In Cuba, Vidal's forecasting might determine whether Cuba remains a sovereign nation. Vidal thinks Rubio will be the next U. S. president. And Vidal has a country, not just money, at stake. Plus, she's smarter than all those pundits combined.

       So, let's revisit Josefina Vidal's epic prognostication about the 2016 U. S. presidential race: "The Batistianos seem to have a new plan to re-capture Cuba. Their plan is to capture the United States first and THEN re-capture Cuba." WOW! The Batistianos and the U. S. have tried, on a daily basis since 1959, to regain control of Cuba. I mean...the record number of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, the Bay of Pigs attack in 1961, the embargo in 1962, terrorism such as befell Cubana Flight 455, etc. BUT, nothing has worked as Fidel Castro prepares to celebrate his 90th birthday in 2016 at his modest home in Havana. SO NOW, Cuba's primary protector, Vidal, thinks that on or around Jan. 20-2017, with Rubio as Commander-in-Chief, Cuba must prepare for a new tactic -- uh, THE ONE OUT-LINED IN HER QUOTATION ABOVE.

         And speaking of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, I have nothing against a Cuban-American being President of the United States. In fact, I have so much admiration for Cubans, I would gladly accept Cubans, at one and the same time,  being President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense. But my problem is this: Only Cuban-American extremists -- and ones who will readily sell-out to the Tea Party, billionaires, and the vast Castro Industry in the United States -- need apply for important electable offices. That sheer and unmistakable fact, I believe, demeans democracy, which is and always will be my first love. In fact, just about every aspect of America's Cuban policy since the 1950s, starting with teaming with the Mafia to support the brutal Batista regime in nearby Cuba in 1952, has demeaned democracy. That's why, for example, all of America's best friends around the world, each October at the United Nations, use their UN vote to express strong disapproval of the U. S. policy regarding Cuba. It is my strong belief that the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba say a lot more about the United States than they say about Cuba. Cuba, after all, is a vulnerable island. The United States, after all, is the world's economic and military superpower. For one vulnerable island to so massively coat the image of the United States around the world is stunning, to say the least. It points out massive chinks in America's vast democratic arsenal, not the least of which is the precipitous decline of the U. S. media. I don't think it necessarily involves the intimidation factor, such as the car-bombing of Emilio Milian when he voiced opposition to terrorism against innocent Cubans. I think it has more to do with the evils of capitalism, not the many positives derived from capitalism. The evils manifest themselves in meretricious hedonism that spawns acerbic and avaricious ludicrousness that callously and userpically eat away at the democratic pillars of a great nation. One of those pillars, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers centuries before the digital age, was the media. That pillar has dissolved, leaving democracy itself vulnerable. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, as contrasted with moderate Cuban-Americans, reflect that vulnerability. For example, the mainstream media -- on a daily basis or in forums such as the ubiquitous Republican debates -- has neither the guts nor the integrity to ask either Cruz or Rubio pertinent questions, such as those raised this week by the aforementioned article in the Naples Daily News {my favorite newspaper, at least this week}. On the campaign trail, for instance, Cruz gets standing ovations when he raves about how his father left Cuba with only "one bill attached to his underwear," BUT LOOK AT ME NOW LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM JUST TWO STEPS OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE. Or, for example, take Rubio who raves on the campaign trail and in the televised debates that his mother and father were hotel maids and bartenders in Miami after "leaving the tyranny of Castro's Cuba for the freedom of America!" That standard line, almost a tear-jerker, is sure to garner loud applause and plenty of votes. Of course, the mainstream U. S. media will never point out such facts as...Rubio's parents left the tyranny of Batista's Cuba, not Castro's Cuba, and Cubans who touch U. S. soil have privileges, economically and politically, that non-Cubans DO NOT HAVE. Other massive debits attached to Cruz and Rubio -- such as Rubio's financial shenanigans in Florida and the tale Cruz's father tells about fighting with Castro's rebels -- will never be challenged by the mainstream media. Thus, for example, revelations by the Naples Daily News should circumvent the mainstream media when that little newspaper challenges extremist Cuban-Americans about how they got to the U. S. Senate and what they have actually done during their first terms there, aside from running for President/Commander-in-Chief.

{"poco a poco" = "step by step"}

     Poco a poco, the Batistianos may have finally discovered how to re-capture Cuba after so many failures: "The Batistianos seem to have a new plan to re-capture Cuba. Their plan is to capture the United States first and THEN re-capture Cuba."

Now don't blame me for that salient quote:

It should be credited to...Josefina Vidal!! 

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America's Cuban Dissidents

A Big Hurdle for Cuba

    Today -- Sunday, January 3rd -- Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe will fly to Cuba for a 3-day visit to promote Virginia business interests on the island, just as recent visits from the governors of New York, Texas, and other states have done. Governor McAuliffe's office stated: "The purpose of the trip is to open new markets for Virginia products. The Governor believes opening trade relations is a key strategy to create new economic activity and opportunities for families in Virginia and Cuba." If the topic was not Cuba, such a sane and decent statement would be applauded by every decent and sane person on the planet. BUT THE TOPIC IS CUBA. Therefore, the vast Castro Industry in the United States immediately went ballistic to excoriate Governor McAuliffe, just as the governors of New York, Texas, and other states were excoriated for the same reason in 2015 -- JUST TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE.

     Terry McAuliffe was born 58 years ago in Syracuse, New York. He is very well known for his ties to former President Bill Clinton and 2017 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. With a net worth of about $30 million, McAuliffe is the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He took over as Virginia's governor in 2014. Like President Obama in Washington, Governor McAuliffe in Richmond is often stymied by a fierce Republican-controlled conservative or right-wing legislature.

    And like President Obama in Washington, Governor McAuliffe in Richmond has fought tooth-and-nail to provide such badly needed things as more and better health care for non-rich Virginians. But, not unexpectedly, like Obama Mr. McAuliffe has been massively opposed by conservative right-wingers and Tea Party zealots who favor only the rich, and not the less fortunate. And when it comes to his trip to Cuba today, like President Obama, Governor McAuliffe is fiercely opposed by Cuban-American politicians who self-servingly fuel the vast Castro Industry in the U. S.

     Jason Miyares has just become the first Cuban-American elected to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. He had the obligatory support of the Tea Party, the Castro Industry in the U. S., the Bush dynasty, and all the Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress. And, oh yes, his bio make the obligatory claim that Miyares "came to the U. S. from Cuba in 1965 with only the clothes on his back." Of course, such bios never mention that ANY CUBAN WHO REACHES U. S. SOIL IS INSTANTLY PROVIDED PRIVILEGES AND WELFARE UNAVAILABLE TO ANY NON-CUBAN. Thus, Miyares sailed through James Madison University and the William and Mary Law School. Then, using his Cuban-Americanism, he had only to align with the Tea Party, the Bush dynasty, and the Castro Industry and he was well on his way to fame, wealth, and political power. Not surprisingly, the first and only time Miyares has made anything resembling a headline as a Virginia delegate was yesterday -- Saturday, January 2-2016 -- when he railed long and loudly in denouncing Governor McAuliffe's trip to Cuba today. Miyares strongly suggested that Governor McAuliffe in Cuba spend his time meeting with dissidents instead of trying to line up business that would benefit Virginians and Cubans. To quote part of his vitriolic statement, Miyares said that McAuliffe "should keep in mind the thousands of dissidents that are harassed, beaten and imprisoned each day in Cuba simply because they yearn for freedom." He didn't mention the Cubans who "yearn" to get to the U. S. because they are enticed by special privileges and benefits unavailable to non-Cubans.

       Cuban-American presidential contender Marco Rubio in the U. S. Senate, Cuban-American Jason Miyares in the Virginia General Assembly, or any other politically minded Cuban-American can make any statement about Cuba and know full well that the mostly incompetent and largely intimidated U. S. media will never challenge them. Newcomers like Miyares in Virginia have surely learned that valuable lesson from veterans like Rubio from Miami. However, there are two significant sides to the U.S.-Cuban conundrum. If you listen to Rubio, Miyares, etc., you will believe that the only thing actually taking place on the nearby island is "harassed" Cubans being constantly "beaten and imprisoned each day in Cuba simply because they yearn for freedom." If that statement was remotely true, the Castro Industry would make sure, in this Smart Phone digital age, that substantiating video filled every American television screen on a nightly basis. And Americans, if they were freely allowed to visit Cuba and judge things for themselves, would not be routinely force-fed such distortions. I've been to Cuba...all over it. I never saw and was never told about any such beatings. If I had, I would have been appalled and totally unafraid to mention it.

       However, if you listen to Cristina Escobar, Josefina Vidal, etc., you get an entirely different portrait of Cuba. Escobar is the young, dynamic news anchor in Cuba. Vidal is the veteran diplomat in charge of Cuba's direct relations with America. In the above photo, that's Escobar interviewing Vidal. Both women have made multiple trips to the U. S. with the clothes on their back as well as a return airplane ticket to Cuba. And both high-profile women, while in the U. S., have reportedly received huge cash-and-mansion offers to defect. Instead, they elected to use their return tickets to Cuba.

     Josefina Vidal, Cuba's Minster of North American Affairs, in 2015 brilliantly negotiated some historic advances in U.S.-Cuban relations. First off, she got Cuba removed from the State Department's list of the Sponsors of Terrorism, which had allowed Cuban-Americans in Miami to sue Cuba for whatever they wanted to sue the unrepresented island for. Then she forged monumental advances such as the re-opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. But, heading into this New Year of 2016, Vidal has made it plain that much remains before Cuba will "in essence" normalize relations with the United States. She is willing to discuss compensation for property nationalized by Revolutionary Cuba but only if the U. S. compensates Cuba "for the sins since 1962 of the illegal blockade and for the terrorist acts that have killed and maimed so many Cubans." Further, she wants the lush port at Guantanamo Bay, which she believes "was stolen in 1903 like a bully steals lunch money from a little kid." And further, she wants the U. S. Congress to stop funding "endless regime-change programs and endless funding and encouragement of dissidence on an island that is far, far more peaceful and crime-free than countries like the United States and Mexico. A foreign country funding and creating dissidents is something no sovereign nation can tolerate unless it totally capitulates. And Cuba's history proves that Cuba will not capitulate one millimeter. I believe Cuba is much safer and more protective of its people than the U. S."

    Cristina Escobar is Cuba's multi-talented and out-spoken prime-time news anchor. She is quite influential among Cuba's restive and demanding twenty-somethings who will dictate much of what post-Castro Cuba looks like. A passionate Cuban, Escobar in December of 2014 went to California for a journalistic seminar. When asked to speak, she opined about what she called a "little known quirk in U.S.-Cuban relations. As a broadcast journalist in Cuba, I have much more freedom to tell the truth about the United States than American broadcast journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba." In 2015 Escobar made headlines in Washington when she covered the last Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session. She became the first Cuban journalist to ask questions at a White House news conference, and she fired five pertinent, back-to-back questions at White House spokesman Josh Earnest during a bristling 14-minute span. She wanted to know if the new U. S. embassy in Havana would "respect Cuba?" She wanted to know if the U. S. would continue to fund "regime-change" and "dissident-encouraging" programs on the island. And she wanted to know if "Obama will visit Cuba in 2016," etc., etc. After she made headlines at that Washington news conference, Escobar was interviewed by the U. S. journalists, including one from Miami, and she made speeches around the U. S. capital. The main theme of those interviews and speeches was this: "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans the most." In addition to reporting the news on Cuban and regional television, Escobar steadfastly sticks to her basic themes: She believes she is more truthful about America than American news anchors are about Cuba. If she didn't honestly believe such things, she probably wouldn't have used those return plane tickets and instead would have moved into the mansion in Miami and caressed the bank account to go with it that she supposedly has been offered several times. THE MORAL OF THIS ESSAY IS: If either Josefina Vidal or Cristina Escobar defect on their next trip to the U. S, Americans should indeed believe at least much of what the Castro Industry in the U. S. says about Cuba. But if they always use their return airplane tickets, it might be good for Americans to believe what Vidal and Escobar say about Cuba.

Photo courtesy: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.

       The above photo was used to illustrate a major article in today's Los Angeles Times written by Christi Parsons who is covering President Obama during his vacation in Hawaii. The title of the article is: "President Obama Considering Visit To Cuba To Shore Up Relations -- And His Foreign Legacy." Remember that question Cristina Escobar fired at Josh Earnest about Obama visiting Cuba in 2016? Well, after the LA Times article today, you can bet the vast Castro Industry in the U. S. will loudly demand that, IF OBAMA DOES VISIT CUBA IN 2016, he should only meet with the Castro Industry's favorite Cuban dissidents. And you know what? The feisty Cristina Escobar has anticipated that possibility, prompting this quote on her newscast: "If Mr. Obama is coerced into boosting the small but disruptive dissident community in Cuba, I would like to invite him not to come. We have exciting and positive things to do, especially with friendly nations that are not concerned with creating dissent where otherwise it wouldn't exist on this island that doesn't want or deserve the criminal element that makes American streets so terribly dangerous."

Now see...I told you there are two sides to the Cuban conundrum.

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Cuba's New Year Is Already Old

But That's Just Being Cuba!!

           This display of Cuban flags was in Santiago de Cuba yesterday -- January 1, 2016. The island celebrated the 57th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution's victory over the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship on January 1, 1959. It was an interesting celebration, so let's take a peek at what transpired. 

        This photo shows Cuba's 84-year-old President Raul Castro speaking in Santiago de Cuba yesterday. The photo reflected the soon-to-be transition in Cuba in which the elderly revolutionary leaders like Raul will relinquish control to...well, somebody. The man in the white shirt just to Raul's left is Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a powerful revolutionary icon who is also now deep into his 80s. Right behind Machado, and partially obscured by him, is Miguel Diaz-Canel, the 55-year-old from Santa Clara that Raul has named as his successor, probably sometime in 2017. So this is a transition photo taken in Santiago de Cuba on the first day of 2016. In his speech, Raul mentioned that UNESCO, the UN branch that monitors the care of children and women worldwide, saluted Cuba in 2015 for its literary rate of 99.8 percent and the fact that "Cuba devotes an extraordinarily high percentage of its Gross National Product, 13%, to the free education for its people." He also mentioned that the World Health Organization in 2015 praised Cuba for its "exceptionally high percentage of its income devoted to free health care on the island" and he pointed out that in 2015 "we agreed for the United States to send a delegation to Cuba to study our unique pre-natal practices for pregnant women, perhaps because -- despite the deprivations of the blockade -- our infant mortality rate is better than that in the United States." One of the other speakers also pointed out that "our extremely low crime rate is the envy of our Caribbean and Latin American neighbors, and unlike our northern neighbor our policeman don't gun down unarmed people on the streets of Cuba." Of course, the Cuban narrative in the U. S., and especially in Miami and the U. S. Congress, maintains that Cuba is an oppressive basket case and that the embargo/blockade, in place since 1962, and other anti-Cuban legislation is warranted because, of course, "any dollar or peso that reaches the island goes into Castro's Swiss bank account." Perhaps, of course, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but don't expect it to surface in this long, lovely New Year of 2016. 

      Nick Miroff is a rare bird. He is a great American journalist and, uniquely, he is courageous enough to tell the truth about Cuba, be it good or bad or in between. He is the award-winning Latin American/Cuban expert for the Washington Post. His January 1-2016 article was entitled "Amid A Historic Wave of Immigration, Some Cubans are Returning Home." WHOA!! Right away it's clear Mr. Miroff didn't clear that article with the vast Castro Industry in the U. S., nor does he ever. That makes him a rare bird. Anyway, he explained why a Cuban named Mauricio Estrada left Cuba and returned, as thousands of Cubans, including Miami Cubans, have done. Americans are not supposed to know such things because the U. S. media normally prefers to remind Americans that all Cubans are anxious to risk everything to leave the decrepit, oppressive Cuban atmosphere. There are, of course, two sides to the Cuban conundrum. Nick Miroff reports on both sides. Did I say rare bird? Uh, I think I did.

      Marco Rubio, the first-term Cuban-American U. S. Senator from Miami, is a top-tier Republican presidential candidate...already. Like Miami's three other contributions to the U. S. Congress, Rubio is vehemently opposed to {and has vowed to block} every positive overture President Obama has made in trying to normalize relations with Cuba. Yet, polls show that the majority of Cuban-Americans in Rubio's Little Havana section of Miami support Obama's, not Rubio's, Cuban policy. That's interesting considering that Miami, even though it is actually located in a non-Banana Republic democracy, is incapable of sending a moderate Cuban-American to the U. S. Congress. It is also interesting that Rubio opposes one of the many, many congressional laws that massively favor and enrich Cuban-Americans and entice Cubans, and only Cubans, to get to the U. S. as quickly as possible, where special laws and privileges await them, and only them, starting the moment their front foot hits U. S. soil. Many Cubans make a beeline for the U. S., get on the welfare rolls, and then return to Cuba but still get that special welfare courtesy of unwitting U. S. taxpayers. Now, Rubio is witty when it comes to Cuban laws. He doesn't like Cubans coming to the U. S. thanks to the infamous Wet Foot/Dry Foot law, in force since 1966, and THEN RETURNING TO CUBA WHERE THEY STILL RECEIVE THOSE WELFARE CHECKS. That mitigates against Rubio's oft-stated belief that if holes in the U. S. embargo of Cuba, in force since 1962, permits any cash to get to Cuba, it will all go in Fidel Castro's bulging but non-existent Swiss bank accounts. So, Rubio...believe it or not...opposes Wet Foot/Dry Foot, but for entirely different reasons than the rest of the world, which believes that Wet Foot/Dry Foot is grossly undemocratic and discriminatory against all non-Cubans. Of course, as Rubio knows, American voters don't give a damn. I mean...they didn't care about Cubana Flight 455 and other drastically undemocratic U.S.-Cuban relationships, so why would they care about...Wet Foot/Dry Foot for heaven's sake?? But Marco Rubio does care...because he cares a whole lot about {and apparently often ponders} Fidel Castro's non-existent Swiss bank accounts. It's the same Rubio, by the way, who got all the way to the U. S. Senate with his bio still claiming his parents escaped the tyranny of Castro's Cuba when, in fact, they escaped Batista's Cuba long before Americans ever heard of Castro. But, in a money-crazed and media-distorted election process, Rubio might waltz to victory in the 2016 Republican primary race, just as Cuba's astute Josefina Vidal expects. That's why she expects another Bay of Pigs event on January 20th, 2017. 

Photo courtesy: Margo Roth/Miami Herald.

      The photo above was used to illustrate a major article in the Miami Herald on the first day of the New Year -- Friday, January 1, 2016. Shown amidst the bushes are some of the 22 Cubans who touched U. S. soil at Key West, Florida yesterday. Just by touching U. S. soil, these Cubans instantly become legal residents of the United States and are instantly eligible for welfare payments courtesy of the U. S. taxpayers. The Miami Herald correctly stated that the vast increase of Cuban migrants is due to the "fear that the Cuban Adjustment Act is going to be abolished." And the Miami Herald explained that "the Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy is a result of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966." It surely is, but Wet Foot/Dry foot is fully protected by a U. S. Congress in 2016 that, like in 1966, will routinely legalize Cuban policies that are dictated by self-serving and hard-line anti-Castro zealots, two generations of whom now might realize how lucky they were when Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution chased them, or their parents, off the island...all the way to nearby Miami, Florida.  

        Wet Foot/Dry Foot since 1966 has been a legal U. S. law that entices Cubans to defect to the U. S. by awarding them, and only them, vast incentives to leave Revolutionary Cuba by whatever means necessary and then the moment they touch U. S. soil they are home-free...with welfare. The law grossly discriminates against all non-Cuban would-be immigrants and it is only one of a plethora of such laws easily mandated by the U. S. Congress at the behest of a handful of hard-line Cuban-Americans and a handful of easily acquired acolytes such as the Bush political dynasty and easily acquired congressional right-wingers such as Robert Torricelli, Jesse Helms, and Dan Burton -- the infamous namesakes of discriminatory U. S. laws known as "The Torricelli Bill" and "The Helms-Burton Act." Such anti-democratic U. S. laws are indelible, essentially permanent, because only the easily bought-and-paid-for U. S. Congress can change or alter them. For example, a decent President, like Barack Obama, cannot overcome such laws although, more than any President since the 1950s, Mr. Obama has chipped away at a Cuban policy essentially concocted by two generations of the most zealous of the anti-Castro zealots booted off the island on January 1, 1959 by the Cuban Revolution. But the U. S. Castro Industry -- which lucratively sates the revenge, economic, and political thirsts of hard-line Cuban-Americans and their self-serving allies -- can perpetrate decades into the future such laws as Wet Foot/Dry Foot, in place since 1966; the embargo, in place since 1962; and a vast array of cash pipelines from Washington-to-Miami such as the lush Radio-TV Marti anti-Castro propaganda machine that has, since the 1980s, sucked an unending torrent of cash from unwitting, pusillanimous taxpayers. The embargo, the cash pipelines, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, etc., are all possible and totally legal because a handful of Cuban hard-liners within the bowels of a 535-member U. S. Congress can legislate...in virtual perpetuity...such laws. Also, the brilliance of the Founding Fathers in creating the greatest form of government ever devised was not infallible, as proven by some nuances of the United States Congress.

      The U. S. Congress is the bicameral legislative body of the U. S. government. It consists of two houses -- the 100-member Senate and the 435-member House of Representatives. Along with a Judiciary and an Executive Branch (the White House), the Founding Fathers envisioned Congress as the hallmark of their proud democracy. It still is. Yet, unforeseen nuances have left Congress very susceptible to unsavory aspects of American society. For example, democracy-lovers -- in the U. S. and around the world -- have applauded President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. He has even orchestrated the reopening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, and he has greatly eased, to the best of his ability, extremely discriminatory and undemocratic laws such as those that deny everyday Americans the freedom to travel to Cuba, a privilege citizens of all other countries have. But, when it comes to Cuba, decent and democracy-loving Presidents can only go so far. President Obama, for example, also wanted to close the infamous Gitmo Prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and begin discussions with Cuba to return the plush land to its rightful owner, Cuba. However, another nuance that enables a few Cuban hard-liners to dictate Cuban laws in the U. S. Congress stands in the way of such sanity. In 2015 a so-called "must-pass" multi-billion-dollar transportation bill made its way through Congress. Fine, the nation's infrastructure badly needed those dollars. But slipped clandestinely into that bill by anti-Castro zealots was a law that prohibited the closing of the Gitmo Prison and any discussions with Cuba about the return of Guantanamo Bay to its rightful owner. President Obama's first thought was to veto the badly needed transportation bill because of that "slip-in" about Cuba. But he ended up signing the bill when he realized that Congress had enough votes to override his veto. In such manners, the vast Castro Industry in the U. S. can use Congress to enact just about any Cuban law it desires. 

      Democracy loving Americans like me have been taught all our lives to proudly revere everything the U. S. Congress stands for. But America's Cuban policy makes the all-encompassing adjective everything a highly debatable proposition. Take 1898, for example, when the USS Maine and dozens of young sailors were blown to bits in Havana Harbor and used as a pretext for the Spanish-American War. Or take 1903 when the U. S., the newly dominant imperialist power in Cuba, unabashedly claimed Cuba's prized Guantanamo Bay. Or take 1952 when the U. S. teamed with the Mafia, of all things, to support the brutal Batista dictatorship in Cuba. Or take 1959 when the U. S. allowed the overthrown Batistiano-Mafiosi leaders to reconstitute themselves on U. S. soil, mainly South Florida and New Jersey. Or take 1961 when the air, ground, and sea attack at the Bay of Pigs miserably failed to recapture Cuba. Or take 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis came the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear holocaust. Or take 1976 when Cuban-exile terrorists blew a child-laden Cuban civilian airplane out of the sky and then loudly proclaimed it "The biggest blow yet against Castro!" Or take, still in 1976, the car-bombing of the top Cuban-American newsman in Miami after he criticized terrorist attacks against innocent Cubans...and later the firing of a top journalist in Miami when he excoriated Miami members of the U. S. Congress for their support of the best-known Cuban-American terrorists...or the firing of the Miami Marlins baseball manager after he merely and innocently expressed admiration of Fidel Castro for surviving the world-record number of assassination attempts. 1976, the only year George H. W. Bush was CIA director, was the watershed year Miami Cubans took the firmest control of the U. S. Cuban policy. Within a few days of the terrorist bombing of Cubana Flight 455, a terrorist car-bombing within sound of the White House in Washington involved Cubans and DINA operatives from the murderous anti-Cuban, pro-U. S. Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. That terrorism killed the beautiful young American, Ronni Moffitt. On the heels of the very bloody year of 1976, the Bush-friendly Jorge Mas Canosa became the richest and most powerful anti-Castro Cuban in the U. S. and he was advised to study AIPAC, the ultra-powerful Israeli lobby, and replicate it. He did, creating the Cuban American National Foundation. From that day in the 1980s till this day in 2016, the hallowed halls of the U. S. Congress has been at the mercy of a few hard-line Cuban-Americans and a few easily acquired sycophants on matters related to Cuba. If you doubt that, there are 535 members of the U. S. Congress you can ask and, if so, I don't believe they can deny it...at least with a straight face. Uh...let's see. Wet Foot/Dry Foot. The embargo. The Washington-to-Miami cash pipeline. Americans being the only people in the world denied the freedom to visit Cuba because...Hey!...they might judge things for themselves.  Yes, all such things are undemocratic, anti-American, and extremely discriminatory. But, uh, you see...the mean Fidel Castro kicked all those nice Mother Teresa-types out of Cuba in 1959 and in all the decades since then the U. S. haven't been able to eliminate him and return those Mother Teresa-types to that island. For those reasons, uh, you understand...Americans should meekly accept the dictates of a Congress that mandates whatever laws those nice Mother Teresa-types in Miami and New Jersey want it to enact. Don't you people in Congress, uh, understand what I'm saying...sir, madam?

        "Well, no, Congressman or Congresswoman, I don't understand, with all due respect. I understand what you're saying about that mean Mr. Castro and all those Mother Teresa-types -- Batista, Luciano, Lansky, Diaz-Balart, etc. -- that he chased to Miami and New Jersey. But, with all due respect, sir...madam...I believe you are misleading me. I mean...the whole world thinks so too. Consider the UN vote -- 191-to-2. If the Cuban policy...sir, madam...dictated by the U. S. Congress angers the entire world, should you not take notice? I mean, the U. S. is the world's all-time economic and military superpower and can easily intimidate or buy-off a LOT OF NATIONS. Yet only one nation in the world supports the U. S. Cuban policy and that little nation is the only one that routinely gets congressional approval for BY FAR the most untold billions of dollars in economic and military aid EACH YEAR from the U. S. taxpayers. Surely, the U. S. Congress cannot get strong nations like England, France, Australia, Canada, Norway, etc., to support its Cuban policy but...sir, madam...can you explain why at least one  other small, needy country won't kiss-up to the U. S. Congress and, uh, support your Cuban policy? I mean...sir, madam...the U. S. is still a democracy, right? A 191-to-2 vote SHOULD AT LEAST impress a democracy, don't you think? I kinda think Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers wouldn't ignore a 191-to-2 vote nor would they have been cowered by terrorists shouting 'The biggest blow yet against Castro.' I've noticed Congress has an approval rating in the single digits. I've noticed polls even in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood show strong support for Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba, yet all four Miami members of Congress  -- Ros-Lehtinen, Rubio, Diaz-Balart, and Curbelo -- vehemently support any legislation that strangles Cubans on the island and also lures them with discriminatory incentives to defect or, prior to that, to engage in dissidence. I mean...sir, madam...why can't Miami send a moderate to Congress, one that represents the Cuban views of most citizens in Little Havana? The U. S. Congress justifies its Cuban laws and its apparent goals of returning those sweet Mother Teresa's, or at least their offspring, to the island any day now. But 'any day now' is six decades old! You have punished two generations of Cubans and Americans in the guise of 'punishing Castro.' Have you no mercy or decency...sir, madam...as you prepare to impose your extremes upon a third generation that will consist of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren? You ignored the world's 191-to-2 opinion again in 2015. Will you ignore 191-to-2 in 2016...and beyond? Uh, just wondering. Don't hold it against me. And thanks, sir...madam. I, uh, know ya'll mean well."  

191-to-2!!

In Banana Republics, 2 wins!!

Viva! Let's toast Banana Republics!
{Are these two men Mother Teresa-types?}
{Are they 2 against 191? Just asking, you understand.}

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Cuba: 2016 and Beyond

Survival Rate: About 50-50!?!
{For an island hanging on in a turbulent sea}

Photo courtesy: Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press.

       The photo above shows U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack on his recent four-day trip to Cuba. It reflects the historic and courageous efforts of President Barack Obama in 2015 as he tried to normalize relations with Cuba. After the visit by Mr. Vilsack, Florida Produce, a major exporting company in Tampa, Florida, said it will ask Cuba in late January, 2016, if it can open a warehouse operation in the Mariel Special Economic Zone. Mariel is the famous port 28 miles southwest of Havana and due south of Key West, Florida. A billion-dollar refurbishing and deepening of the port, largely funded by Brazil, has created a state-of-the-art area that is vital to Cuba's economic future, with foreign investments critical to its success. Anti-Castro hardliners continue to dictate Cuban policy in the U. S. Congress and may yet thwart or turn-back Mr. Obama's herculean efforts but, almost in unanimity, everyone from Mr. Vilsack to Pope Francis to the U. S. Chamber of Commerce to the United Nations enter the New Year of 2016 hoping that Mr. Obama's brave plans to normalize relations with Cuba reach fruition in a sane manner.

     If President Obama in 2016 can build on the progress with Cuba that he started in 2015, it will markedly benefit most Cubans and most Americans. {The graphic is courtesy of The Packer}. However, many hurdles remain even as U. S. and Cuban flags now fly at embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961, highlighting one of Mr. Obama's monumental successes in the past year. The vast Castro Industry in the U. S. -- fueled by revenge, greed, and hubris -- has largely dictated America's Cuban policy since 1959 and, thanks to its control of the U. S. Congress, that will likely continue in 2016, the final year of Mr. Obama's term.

    Yet, President Obama's Cuban policy is supported by most Americans, most Cubans, and most Cuban-Americans...not to mention almost every nation in the entire world as registered each October with a resounding vote in the United Nations. Of the last eleven U. S. Presidents, Barack Obama has displayed the most guts, the most decency, and the most patriotism in dealing with Cuba. It will likely crown his political legacy, but that is no assurance his efforts to normalize relations with Cuba will succeed. His sternly entrenched opponents deep within the bowels of America's Castro Industry, while clearly a minority, can easily continue their dictation of a Cuban policy that propagandized Americans have insouciantly permitted to exist since the 1950s.

      Mike Mauricio is a very brave man. He is the President and CEO of Florida Produce, the Tampa-based company that in this month of January-2016 will try to get permission from Cuba and the United States to open a major warehouse in the Mariel Port Economic Zone in Cuba. Mike says, "If we find success, we will help the Cuban people." WOW! He means the Cuban people ON THE ISLAND! The U. S. Congress, to appease Cuban hardliners, has passed and maintained an array of U. S. laws designed to help and enrich Cuban-Americans and entice Cubans in Cuba to defect. So, any American who seeks "to help the Cuban people" on the island is defying the U. S. Congress because helping Cubans on the island might...heavens forbid!!...persuade Cubans to remain in Cuba! So, yes, Mike Mauricio is a very brave man.

     
     And...Kathy Castor is a very brave woman. She was born 49 years ago in Miami, Florida! Since 2007 she has courageously represented the Tampa, Florida area in the U. S. Congress! She is the first Florida member of the U. S. Congress to call for an end to the U. S. embargo of Cuba, and she has made that call loudly and consistently in utter defiance of the four members of the U. S. Congress from her hometown of Miami! Congresswoman Kathy Castor should be elevated to the White House where her courage and decency could parallel and continue that of the brave Mr. Obama!!!

     David Seleski is a very, very, very, brave man. He is the President/CEO of Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Florida, which is in shouting distance of Miami, which is the headquarters of America's ultra-powerful Castro Industry. But guess what David Seleski accomplished in 2015? David's Stonegate Bank made it possible for American visitors to Cuba to use Debit Cards on the island!! He said, "This is the first step in relieving the burden of U. S. travelers carrying cash when traveling to Cuba and it is another step in normalizing commercial relations between the two countries." WOW!! Some 10,000 Cuban hotels, restaurants, and other businesses are using Stonegate Bank debit cards and in 2016 Stonegate plans to make them usable in ATM machines in Cuba. Yes indeed. David Seleski is a brave man!!

        Saul Berenthal {on the left above} and Horace Clemmons are very brave Americans. They own Cleber LLC in Alabama and they are asking Cuba and the United States for permission to build a plant in the Mariel Economic Zone in Cuba to build small tractors, like the one they are displaying here. The U. S. embargo since 1962 has largely blocked the use of tractors on Cuban farms and thus those of us who have been to the island have seen oxen pulling plows. Small tractors actually built on the island would constitute a drastic bit of modernity for Cubans. Mr. Clemmons says, "I think we can pull it off, and it'll be good for everyone." He means, with President Obama's support, he can help Cubans and Americans in defiance of the hardliners in the U. S. Congress who are concerned only with helping the lucrative U. S. Castro Industry. Yes, Mr. Berenthal and Mr. Clemmons are very, very brave men in the state of Alabama. America needs many more just like them.

       And the question is, as 2016 replaces 2015, how many more brave Americans will step up to support President Obama's decent and courageous overtures to Cuba? {It's a very pertinent question considering the adverse image America's Cuban policy casts on both America and democracy in the eyes of the world}.

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